This is a story from my heart to tell because it starts with family. If you know anything about me, you know I love my family. It all started with a vacation. I love to take my family on vacation! We have taken many trips over the years, but one of my favorite trips is going to Pennsylvania. We especially love the area of Lancaster, where a lot of Amish live. We watch them work the land and handle all their animals. It seems like a hard life, but a life full of the family working together.

On one of our trips about 2 years ago, we invited my two sisters and their husbands to stay with us in a bed an breakfast. The name of this place was Love Lace Manor. It’s a great place to stay! While we were there, the caretakers told us about an Amish family that would allow us to take part in a family dinner in their home. We were all very excited about that opportunity, but unfortunately, time would not allow that on this trip. Not too long after that my wife and I decided to take our three children to the same bed and breakfast. This time we did make plans to visit and eat with an Amish family in their home. This was an amazing experience for my family. We learned so much about their lifestyle. I will tell you that some things are very different, but we also found a lot of similar things about our lifestyle and our family values. I became friends with the husband there, Christopher.

After meeting with this family, we did some shopping in Lancaster. Looking around at all the handmade furniture and items there, I realized the quality of craftsmanship was of the highest quality. I currently own another business called Trinity Renovations where we remodel kitchen and bathrooms in the Richmond area. We are always looking for quality items to sell and install in our kitchen and bathroom store. I started talking with another Amish craftsman about kitchen islands for our kitchen side of the business. My wife and I were invited out to see how they made furniture. I was amazed as to the detail of their handcrafted work. I knew the quality of their work would go well with my current business. After doing some checking in Richmond, I realized there are no Amish furniture stores in my area.

Well, you know how a dream starts small and then grows from somewhere deep within. That’s what happened. I went to my wife, Stephanie, and told her that we should bring a part of the Amish craftsmanship to our area. I explained to her in great detail my plan to open an Amish furniture store in Mechanicsville. My wife has always been my biggest fan and supporter. So she got busy setting up a new business and I started making contacts in the Amish community. By the way, that is not always easy. We talked to our three children about some changes and sacrifices that would need to take place in order to make this dream a reality. They were very excited. Our deepest hope is that we can bring some great furniture to our area that our community will love. We have chosen the name Legacy Amish Furniture for our store because we believe this furniture is a legacy of the Amish community and something you can leave your children.

We hope you enjoy our story about how a dream can become a reality. Follow your dream!

— Mike & Stephanie